Citizen Journalist Unlawfully Prohibited from Filming by Texas State Rep

• Amy Hedtke Was Forcibly Removed and Arrested in the John H Reagan State Office Building on March 22, 2017
• Committee Chair is Byron Cook, Republican, From TX House District 8
• It Is Lawful to Record Public Meetings According to Texas Government Code Sec. 551.023

(AUSTIN, Texas) – In this Project Veritas video, James O’Keefe teams up with Texas mother and citizen journalist Amy Hedtke who was unlawfully removed from a State Affairs Committee meeting for attempting to film it in accordance with Texas state law.

The Chair of the Committee, Republican Byron Cook, made the decision to have Hedtke removed from the meeting, according to the DPS Officer and David Sauceda, the Sergeant of Arms for the Texas House of Representatives:

Amy Hedtke: This state law says that I have the right to record. So you’re going to break state law and remove me?

DPS Officer: The chairman has the right to make that decision.

Amy Hedtke: Where does the chairman have the right to break state law?

David Sauceda: You’re going to have to leave, there is no discussion. I’m sorry.

DPS Officers took Amy’s camera and moved her outside of the meeting room, where she was arrested.

Amy Hedtke: I have the right to stay and record with video camera. If you remove me…If you remove me… I am not going to leave. Cause I am exercising my rights. I have the right to be here. And I have the right to record.

A person in attendance may record all or any part of an open meeting of a governmental body by means of a recorder, video camera, or other means of aural or visual reproduction.

It appears that Representative Cook has a track record of limiting the transparency of government–other organizations have also accused him of prohibiting citizens from filming public meetings.

Following Hedtke’s arrest, Project Veritas decided to visit Representative Byron Cook’s office. O’Keefe was quickly escorted from the office before he could meet with the Representative. Shortly thereafter, O’Keefe was contacted by Cook’s Chief of Staff Toni Barcellona, who evaded commenting on the law which allows citizens to record meetings, instead only citing the Committee rules.

“Amy Hedtke should have been allowed to film that hearing,” said James O’Keefe in a video. “Amy should not have been arrested, but she was willing to be arrested. She was standing up for her rights, she was standing up for the people in the state of Texas and she was standing up for all of us.”

This guy Cook is a real beauty. He claims to be pro-life but he’s killed 3 out of every 4 pro-life bills to cross his desk.

“Byron Cook, Chairman of the Texas House State Affairs committee, claims to be a Republican “Champion for Life.” Based on his record this session, though, those claims are pretty laughable, or at least they would be if the consequences were not so tragic.
Before discussing pro-life bills specifically, let’s take a bigger picture at what Cook has done as Chairman of the Texas House State Affairs committee.
Generally, of more than 240 bills which have been referred to his committee, Cook personally killed at least 135 of those bills by refusing even to give them a hearing. Another 45 which did get hearing he prevented from getting out of his committee.
This means that Chairman Byron Cook killed around three out of every four bills which were assigned to his committee. In fact, Byron Cook can end this session boasting that his committee had a higher bill kill rate than any other Texas House committee which met this year. In short, Byron Cook’s committee is where bills are sent to die.
But what about pro-life legislation specifically? Sadly, the numbers are not any better.
38 bills relating to abortion or childbirth were referred to Cook’s committee–33 of them authored by fellow Republicans. Of the 33 pro-life bills authored by Republicans, Cook singlehandedly killed 25 of them by refusing to give them a hearing thereby denying an opportunity for Texans to come and talk to their legislators about these important issues. Yet again, more than 3 out of every 4 pro-life bills were killed by Byron Cook.
This record of killing bills even includes going out of his way to speak against and kill HB 948, the Abolition of Abortion in Texas Act, a Republican Party of Texas priority bill by Rep. Tony Tinderholt which would have completely abolished abortion in Texas.
Essentially, because of the bills that Byron Cook has single-handedly killed, over 110,000 innocent children are expected to die over the next two years.
Cook not only refused to give a hearing to most pro-life bills, he even chose to give a hearing to and speak in favor of a pro-death bill.
Republican champion for life?
Not hardly” https://empowertexans.com/commentary/byron-cook-destroyer-bills/